A Light in the Dark
by Shiranai Seito
Summary: The past of Zero and Hiead! Was my first Fic (original title: How it Came to Be), but has since been completely redone. Please read and review.


**How It Came to Be**

**Disclaimer: NOT MINE! I wrote it but not my characters, The OMEN quotes are from Dual Potential and Zero's line is from Jimin Juushin's (or however you spell it) translation of Myth 01.**

**AN: This was my first fic; it's short and not very detailed, but still my favorite. I fixed it up. Pease Read and Review!**

_Italics are thoughts; sometimes they are mixed in with the descriptions._

**This is a one shot fic.**

****

  
  
_I have not told that child anything.   
Anything... I couldn't tell him anything. _~Omen_   
  
  
She sat at the consul, just staring at the double helix, as if, somehow, it could supply the answers. __And it will. The room was dark except for the light emanating from her screen; it was this way because she found it easier to give her full concentration to her work if she couldn't see the distractions. __There was a phrase I heard once "out of sight, out of mind" She shook her head silently,_ yet my mind is still wandering_. Focusing back on her work, she reached for her tea. She grimaced as she took a sip; it had gone cold.  
  
'Ms. Enna!' some called, throwing open the door; bringing light into the room. Kozue blinked several time before her eyes adjusted to the light. Not that there was much to see, just a few desk/monitor sets like hers and a panting aide hunched over with her hand resting heavily on her knees. After she caught her breath she stood up and called again, 'Ms. Enna!' the women blushed when see realized that Kozue was the only person in the room.   
  
'Ms. Enna, we think we finally found it!' The technician seemed ecstatic, and was waving some papers in her hand.  
  
'Yes? Might I ask what we found?' She tried her best not to sound impatient. She hated being interrupted from her work.  
  
'I think we isolated the nucleotide sequence that determines…'  
  
She stood up, knocking her chair over in the process, 'what?!? Is it true?' she did not wait for an answer, just ran past the technician (grabbing the papers from her hand), then on down to the experimental lab.   
  
****   
  
In the Lab, a man watched the stars. As is his usual, he didn't acknowledge the tech who placed a sheet of paper before him, for review. Picking it up the man could only say...'So we've finally done it...' Then he went back to his habitual stargazing, only this time with a slight smile…   
  
****   
  
When she got there she marched up the head of the Genome project, Kuro, and demanded. 'Is it true, did we finally do it?'   
  
He didn't even turn around when he answered, 'Yes, we are now able to fulfill the future...'   
  
She was confused; he didn't seem to be making sense. 'I don't understand, the Future?'_

   
'Yes we must create the perfect body...the successor...' He trailed off, clearly deep or even lost in his own thoughts.   
  
_What does he mean? What is he planning?_   
  
'I thought we are supposed to be researching cures!?'    
  
'We are Kozue Enna; we are...a cure to the infection called VICTIM...' Without warning he stood up and walked out of the room. _What was that all about? Looking down she saw a piece of paper open on the arm of the seat that Kuro had just vacated. Curiosity won over practicality and she picked it up._

_Observer Kuro, _[it said]__

_We acknowledge the fact that your experiments are of highest importance, that is why, against our better judgment, it has been decided that you should continue. The new Genome must be perfect, and he must be trained for the sole purpose of defeating VICTIM. Take no consideration for what you may, incorrectly, see as his Humanity. _

_We do, however, give you one warning: due to the catastrophic mistake made—_

Kozue gasped as the paper was taken from her hands. She looked up to see the dark expression on the stranger's face; or maybe not such a stranger, because now that she was this close, she recognized him as Kuro's Go-for. Her mind seized up, but her feet still knew what to do, and they got her out of there as fast as they could. _What if he tells Kuro that I saw the papers?_

*************************************************************

_Not about his birth...   
not about his father...   
even back then I felt that someday it would turn out this way. _~Omen   
  
  
_A__ cure for VICTIM? What does he mean...he talks about them as if... as if VICTIM were just a disease...and what about that paper?   
  
She barely paid any attention to the others in the room. They had received orders to use the new data in an attempt at the experiment, it was a milestone for them, and they were very eager and through in their work.  
  
'...we need to align the nucleotides on the RNA...'   
'...the phenotype must be Male...'   
'...the allele for the EX must be dominate...'   
  
 A sick feeling had spread in her stomach when she figured it out. She had simply sat there staring at nothing as she worked out all the details; saw all the pieces of the puzzle beginning to fall into place. She was absolutely sickened. _

_What he was planning to do_   
It was, in her mind, beyond reproach. She MUST stop him. At all costs.   
  
****   
  
'Experiment ONE ready sir' A worker, maybe even a scientist, reported.  
  
'Good, prepare for the creation of ONE.'   
  
Kuro had no conscience by now. After all if VICTIM can kill without mercy, can he not create out of necessity? So he was ready to do this without any qualms, which, in his opinion, was the best state of the mind.   
  


He heard the usual humdrum of the center, boring reports that really didn't need to be said, but they said it any way simply because the regulations said so.

  
'We're feeding the genetic structure through the mainframe now...'   
'Accessing cell splicer.. Ready!'   
'Experiment ONE's physical attributes will be...Eyes=red, hair=white, skin tone=light.'   
'Activating MACHINE now sir.'

  
****   
  
The MACHINE began to glow, the light originated from the inside and seeping outward. Strange sounds began emanating from the MACHINE. The panel in control showed the Amino Acids, the building blocks of life, began to line up, forming proteins. The proteins then guided the cells in chemical reactions and in the process gathered more and more cells around them, going exactly as the scientists planned. Growing, growing to form a small human being, a child really, although it wasn't exactly human.  
  
****   
  


The air in the center was thick with the anticipation and excitement. Everyone was on the edge; his or her lives work all coming up to this single moment in time.

  
'Experiment ONE created sir!' and unremarkable person at a consul reported.  
  
Practically every man and woman raced forward to see the product. The first one there scanned the ONE, he seemed dismayed by his results.   
  
'HE IS IMPERFECT!'   
  
****   
  
'Sabotage,' Kuro whispered to himself, 'Sabotage.' 

*************************************************************

_That is why, when that child told me that he wanted to become a Pilot,   
I didn't stop him.   
In the end, running was useless.   
My premonition came true, that's all that happened. _~Omen   
  
The child was afraid. He knew he shouldn't be, something inside him told him not to be, but he couldn't help it. The people in the funny long white clothes were everywhere, saying funny things and observing him.   
  
'...His IQ is already so high...'   
'...See the way he notices everyth...'   
'...He's so young, yet seems so old...'   
  
There was only one who didn't seem intimidated. She stood in the corner, away from the rest, seemingly intent in her scrutiny of him. He found her a little scary.     
  
****   
  
She watched the boy, ONE, from a distance, not because she was afraid of him, but because she was afraid of herself.   
  
She felt absolutely terrible, regrets for what she had done running through her head even as she tried to justify it.   
  
_But I know that Kuro will try again. He will not stop at just one failure._   
  


Another tech appeared suddenly behind her, making Kozue jump and color guiltily. Thankfully the aide didn't seem to notice,

  
'Ms. Enna, Kuro orders that we make a second attempt, the only difference is that he wants one of his own people to look over the genetic sequencing.' Here the women paused, 'I wonder why he deems this necessary? The ONE was only an innocent mistake.' 

Kozue chose to ignore the last sentence, for it stuck too close to her very guilty conscience.

Instead she said, 

'Whom will he send?'   
  
'Someone named Teela,' the aide flipped through her papers, 'yes that's right, Teela Zain Elms...'   
  
****   
  
Kuro sat in his chair, continuing his eternal watch over the stars. 

He heard the soft footsteps behind him, and, instinctively, he knew who it was.   
  
'So Teela, are you ready to begin Experiment ZERO?'   
  
'Yes...' her soft voice managed to convey her longing, and her intense joy that this day had finally arrived.

*************************************************************

_If I had left that colony, I would not have lived very long.   
But still, I dreamed of living with that child.   
Since I came here with that child, it's been fifteen years_. ~Omen   
  
_It feels odd, being watched; it is as if, Ms. Elms could see deep into your soul with those eyes of hers.   
This Teela spends a lot of her time just staring at me. Why does she? Does she know?_   
  
Kozue sighed as Teela finally looked away.   
  
_She isn't helping my already taxed conscience._   
  
Out of the corner of her eye Kozue saw Teela lean over to her boss and whisper something in his ear.   
  
****   
  
'I think that one is ill.' That was all Ms. Elms had said; however, he could never ignore her advice 'She should see a doctor.' So he went to talk to Kozue.   
  
'Ms. Enna, it has come to my attention that you might be...overworked... maybe you should see a doctor about it.'   
  
'I feel fine.' She insisted, her face resolute.  
  
Ms. Enna, don't make me force you.' Although spoken softly, the words had the strength of steel behind them.  
  
****   
  
She was angry as she walked to the center's doctor. When she came up to the door, she was almost tempted to walk pass, to forget about the entire thing; but she knew her orders, she had to go. Sighing with frustration, she pushed the swinging door open. 

'Ms. Enna I presume?' Kozue jumped in surprise, accidentally letting go of the door. The door then swung back on its double hinges into the hallway; hitting an innocent passerby full on in the face. 

Kozue immediately abandoned the doctor so she could help the poor man; who was now kneeling on the floor plucking the papers out of the air as they floated back down. 

'I'm so sorry, sir' Trying to be helpful she collected some of the papers. She continued to apologize even when finished picking up the papers. 

****   
  
The Doctor was reporting to Kuro and Teela, personally he found the darkness of the room eerie; he shook off that line of thought and got back to the report he was holding in his hands, 'it could just be overwork. In my observations of her and after reviewing her file, I realized Ms. Enna is a workaho—' 

'She is a fine worker; she has potential to rise quickly in rank.' The doctor was surprised that Kuro cut him off.

'Ahh, y-yes sir,' the doctor shakily replied.

'Please continue,' the first words that Teela said this entire meeting. He noted her tone of voice, while serene, had the same note of authority that Kuro had. 

'My diagnosis...' Here the doctor paused, the kind of pause you would use before telling someone they had two days to live, 'it is most likely the early onset of...'   
  
****   
  
'Miss Enna!' Her superior was calling her. His voice rang with the tone of authority he had only just mastered.  
  
She sat up in her chair straighter before swiveling around to face him. Resisting the urge to rub her eyes, she answered, 'Yes?' in the most respectful tone she could manage. 

_Only a few hours of work reviewing genetic codes, my monitor must be oscillating at a different frequency then it usually is; either that or I'm losing my touch._ She laughed silently to herself. _With my luck, it's probably the second._

She was dragged back to reality at the sound of her superior's voice, or rather then end of his sentence. 'I'm sorry sir, I didn't hear that.'  
  
When his eyes softened into a look of pity, she knew something was wrong. He repeated his earlier order as a request, 'You are ordered to take a leave of absence, go home and rest.'   
  
She was to shocked to say anything, she just left...without doing what she had planned to do...   
  
****   
  
'Ready for Experiment ZERO!'   
'All systems..Check, Genetic sequence..Check, MACHINE ready sir'   
'BEGIN'

*************************************************************

_And it looks like I don't have much time left.   
  
And there is only one thing that I lied to him about.   
When I said that I was his mother.   
And now,   
I can't stop thinking this way..._ ~Omen   
  
Teela watched the child, who was pretending to be asleep. He was perfect and he would be the successor.   
  
He sat up suddenly, as if sensing her gaze, and looked around with his wide blue eyes, his brown hair tousled from lying down. Although he would not, could not, be the strategist that ONE was, he was intelligent in his own way. A smile spread across her features as she watched the boy look for the person he knew was there. She then shrank back into the shadows, for he must not see her yet. Little did she know it was too late for that particular concern...  
  
****   
  
'I'm returning for work, sir.' Kozue Enna spoke into a seemingly empty room.   
  
'Are you sure?'   
  
'Yes, Kuro.'   
  
'If you think you must.'   
  
****   
  
She walked the halls of the center, knowing there was only one thing she had to do. She would like to do two, but it was either one or the other. So she headed to the room where ZERO was held.   
  
When she opened the door she looked inside, to the child sitting on the floor. Although he didn't speak, she doubted he could, his eyes plainly said: _Who are you?   
  
She hesitated a second, then answered, 'Your mother'   
  
When she had said this he placed his hand trustingly in hers. So she reached down and picked him up. _

Seeing the barcode on his right wrist, she intuitively knew it was a tracking device and knew that someday soon she would have to remove it. But not now, instead she ran for the door and outside.   
  
****   
  
'Someone took the experiment and escaped!! One of the research personnel! ID-A2002. It can't be that woman...!!! Kozue Enna...'  
  
'Let her go...'   
  
*************************************************************

  
  
'Mom, they are here to pick me up.'   
'So I'm going to go now.'   
'I asked the neighbors to take care of you.'   
'I'm going to come back home...As a Pilot'   
  
With those as his last words to her, Zero Enna walked out of the door, to become a pilot...   
  
  
_That child moving towards your origins... may even have been his destiny..._ ~Omen

**_FIN!_****__**


End file.
